100 largest crane companies in North America

The 2024 ACT100 index added an impressive 96,160 tons with an index of 3,176,474 tons capacity. Last year the index grew by more than 500,000 tons from the retraction of the index in 2022.

For comparison, the ACT100 index in 2023 was 3,080,314. In 2022, it was 2,552,592 and in 2021 it was 2,868,110. In 2020, the ACT100 index was 2,778,193. The big retraction in 2022 was a result of the economic issues, including supply chain problems caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Amazingly, the ACT100 index has settled firmly in the 3 million ton capacity range for two years straight. Maxim Crane Works is still number one, reporting an index of 732,241 tons. Maxim is not just the first company on the ACT100, but the first company by a far margin in excess of 400,000 tons.

The top 10 crane companies stayed intact for the most part with Maxim, Bigge and ALL Erection keeping their top three spots. Buckner HeavyLift, Lampson International and Marmon Crane Services round out the top six. The top 10 ended up with Barnhart moving from 9 to 7, Mammoet Americas moving from 7 to 8 and J.F. Lomma moving from 16 to 9. TNT Crane & Rigging moved from 8th to the 10th largest company on the ACT100. Big gainers this year include J.F. Lomma Inc., Lift Source Machinery, Mountain Crane and Superior Cranes.

In 2024, the number of branches was the same as 2023 at 814. While branches increased in 2023, it appears that consolidation was an important strategy over the past year. Employee counts were steady at 42,281. In 2024, the crawler crane count was 3,324, as compared to 3,346 last year, a small retraction. In 2022, the ACT100 index showed 3,129 crawler cranes and 3,288 crawler cranes in 2021. Mobile cranes fell again this year to 15,041 units, nine units less than the 15,050 mobile cranes reported last year. In 2022, there were 15,557 mobile cranes reported on the list as compared to 16,351 mobile cranes in 2021.

Our data suggests that companies are adding more high-capacity mobile and crawler cranes, hence the growth in the overall ACT100. Mergers and acquisitions continue to impact the ACT100. Bay Crane, which chooses not to participate in the ACT100, has acquired several companies that used to be on the list, including Capital Crane and Gatwood Crane and Rigging to name a few. Barnhart has also acquired several companies.

The top 25 stayed pretty much the same, with a few trading spaces here and there. The largest new company to enter the ACT100 is Guay, clocking in at Number 17 with an index of 42,780.

The largest crawler crane fleet in North America is owned by Maxim Crane Works with 413 crawler cranes. Lampson follows with 385 crawlers and Bigge with 376. The ALL Family of Companies has the largest number of mobile cranes with 1,560 units. Maxim has 1,364 mobile units and Bigge has 1,079. The largest crane on the ACT100 is the Mammoet SK6000, with a capacity of 6,000 tons. Next is the Sarens SGC-250 with 5,000 tons capacity. Fagioli and Buckner HeavyLift both have Liebherr LR 13000s with 3,300 tons capacity. Deep South and Lampson have the Transi-Lift 3000 and the VersaCrane TC 36000/2, posting capacities of 3,000 tons respectively. Maxim owns the 2,535-ton capacity Manitowoc 31000.

The methodology

Our ACT team sent surveys to close to 500 companies in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. While the ACT100 is much more comprehensive than it was when it was started 19 years ago, we realize there are probably 10 to 15 major crane-owning companies not represented. Some companies do not want to share information about their fleets, and we respect their decision.

This year we were 100 percent with the ACT100. There are two ties and three companies with an asterisk, shown as an estimate.

As stated previously, in the largest crane category, different capacities may be listed for the same machine. We rely on the information supplied to us in determining these capacities as rigging variables can change the capacity of the crane. Because the vast majority of crane-owning companies are privately held, it can be difficult to obtain and verify figures, although we do approach independent industry sources for assistance and use related web resources and research when we use an estimate.

Disclaimer

We rely on the integrity of the companies that participate, wholly assuming that the information they provide is accurate and truthful to the best of their knowledge. We work to ensure the accuracy of the information provided but take no responsibility for errors or omissions. We will continue to work to make the ACT100 the most comprehensive list of crane-owning companies in North America.

Companies are ranked by their ACT100 Index, which is calculated by adding together the maximum lifting capacities in U.S. tons of all crawler cranes and mobile cranes in a company’s fleet, including attachments.